BIDEN ADMINISTRATION’S INCOMPREHENSIBLE GAZA POLICY

On October 7, 2023, Hamas, a Palestinian militia, stormed the neighboring property of Gaza and killed or kidnapped approximately 1400 people in Israeli settlements in a horrendous attack upon a civilian population. Since then, the Israeli military has been making a concentrated retaliation which is killing tens of thousands of Palestinian civilians, injuring hundreds of thousands of Palestinians and leaving most of the two and a half million inhabitants that live in Gaza homeless. It is the standard example that Israel undertakes when it is fighting Palestinian militias. They regularly ensure that they kill at least 10 times and perhaps as many as 20 times the number of Israeli casualties which occurred. That calculation is occurring in Gaza as the number of dead there is now approaching 30,000.

 

The Israeli response is directed by the government of Benjamin Netanyahu who has declared its intent to totally wipe out Hamas and has now given suggestions that it intends to devastate large portions, if not all, of Gaza. The claim of course is that Israel needs to defend itself. However, it is no longer an issue of defending Israel.  Israel is now engaged in a war of revenge which shows no concern for the two and a half million Palestinians living in Gaza. As various other countries have objected that the Israelis are being excessive in their slaughter of the Palestinians such objections are ignored by the Israeli government. The Israeli government has given no indication of when it's destruction of Gaza will be completed or what will be the status of Gaza when the war is over. This has also historically been the policy evoked by Israel. Israel runs Gaza and the West Bank as colonial territories which have been described as apartheid states by a number of government officials, including President Carter.

 

In response to the Hamas attacks the American political reaction was the usual support for Israel with declarations that Israel needs to be able to defend itself. That reaction has not changed even though Israel is not doing anything to defend itself at this time but is engaged in destroying Gaza and the Palestinian society that existed there. President Biden has insisted that Israel needs to defend itself and noted that he has support for Israel in his blood. The Israelis have shown themselves appreciative of that position as they run rampant through Gaza.

 

The problem is that the Israeli attack on Gaza is so extreme that it is not likely to solve any problems. The antipathy of Israelis and Palestinians for each other predates the creation of Israel in 1948. Presumptively since that time over 75 years ago there could have been steps towards the Israelis and Palestinians learning to live together in two different countries lying adjacent to each other. Periodically there has been an occasion when such an effort was undertaken. However, those efforts have been totally rejected by the current government in Israel. Prime Minister Netanyahu's government has noted that it will not accept a Palestinian state and it intends to continue its colonial control of any areas in which the Palestinians live adjacent to Israel. The manner in which Israeli control is currently applied is so appalling that it is hard to understand how anyone can expect  peace to occur in Palestine. The Israelis harsh attitude is that of a conqueror over a subjugated territory.

 

This status makes the Biden administration's current policy position incomprehensible. President Biden has continued to make statements about Israel must be allowed "to defend itself" when there is no such issue involved in the destruction of Gaza. He has also requested over $14 billion in military aid for Israel so it can rearm itself and continue its devastation of the Palestinians. It is unclear why the United States should be offering any military aid to Israel when it is busy killing and injuring hundreds of thousands of civilians in Gaza. There is no reason to keep supporting the Israeli domination of Palestinian lands. This policy of military aid is even more mind boggling when we consider that Israel is one of the richest countries in the world on a per capita basis. To give the Israelis any military aid, let alone $14 billion in additional aid to what they have already received in the past year, is simply to encourage the Israelis to keep slaughtering Palestinians.

 

The Biden administration is now suggesting that the Israeli excesses should be moderated. In typical American political fashion the approach to this is to have senior messengers from the administration make statements that the US is pressuring Israel to be more concerned about civilian casualties and other such gibberish. The Israelis are busy destroying one of the most heavily populated areas in the world with over two and a half million Palestinians in a narrow strip of land. The idea that the United States verbal pressure will make Israel change its policy is silly. We saw that before when President George W. Bush's efforts to get adjustments to Israel government policy were ignored by Prime Minister Netanyahu.

 

Interestingly President Biden is never the person that says his administration is pressuring Israel to let up on its attacks.  Then he could be accused of changing his policy. He continues to take the position of supporting Israel while other members of the administration note that they are trying to pressure Israel to lighten up. It is a classic political effort to appeal to both sides at once. It reminds me of a bobble head doll as the administration says one thing and then its head bobbles around to the other side and says something different. It does not have a cohesive policy but tries to not lose any political points or votes in an election year.

 

As President Biden won't come out and make a definitive statement that Israel has to back off of its attacks if it wants American support in such places as the United Nations, there is no reason for the Israeli government to change its policies, Indeed, they are anticipating the United States will authorize $14 billion of additional military aid. Why should they presume the United States is serious about doing something to create a solution in the eternal battles of Israel and Palestinian peoples. There's no backbone in American policy. The various actions and statements of the American government are incomprehensible. In the U S the policy is essentially political gibberish. In Israel the policy is continue the invasion and hurry up with the $14,000,000,000.

 

 

Silence Dogood

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